Boyle's Law: Understanding the Relationship Between Pressure and Volume of Gas
How does the pressure of a gas affect its volume according to Boyle's Law?
According to Boyle's Law, what happens to the volume of a gas when its pressure is changed?
Answer:
According to Boyle's Law, the volume of a gas is inversely proportional to its pressure. This means that as the pressure of a gas increases, its volume decreases, and vice versa.
Boyle's Law, named after the physicist Robert Boyle, states that the pressure and volume of a gas are inversely proportional to each other, as long as the temperature remains constant. In other words, when the pressure of a gas increases, its volume decreases, and when the pressure decreases, the volume increases.
The mathematical relationship between pressure and volume is expressed by the formula:
P1V1 = P2V2
Where P1 and V1 are the initial pressure and volume, and P2 and V2 are the final pressure and volume, respectively.
By rearranging the formula, we can calculate the new volume (V2) when the pressure (P) is changed:
V2 = (P1 * V1) / P2
This relationship shows that as the pressure increases, the volume of the gas decreases proportionally and vice versa. Understanding Boyle's Law can help us predict the behavior of gases under different pressure conditions and how they affect the volume of the gas.